María Elena Cobeña - Gerente General
María Elena es la Directora y fundadora de IH Guayaquil. Tiene una licenciatura en Idiomas y Cultura Europea de la Universidad de Hull en el Reino Unido. También es profesora certificada CELTA y ha enseñado inglés en diferentes universidades en Guayaquil. Tiene una pasión por la educación y cree que aprender inglés es fundamental para cualquier persona que desee tener éxito en casi cualquier profesión en la actualidad. María Elena fundó IH en Guayaquil con la idea de ofrecer a los ecuatorianos clases de inglés de calidad y certificaciones internacionales con profesores altamente calificados.
John es el Director de IH Quito y el Cambridge English Exams Manager en IH Quito e IH Guayaquil. John ha vivido permanentemente en Ecuador desde 2003, pasando 12 años en Guayaquil y luego trasladándose a Quito en 2015. John trabajó como profesor de escuela secundaria en el Reino Unido hasta 1997 y posee varias calificaciones de postgrado de universidades del Reino Unido. John siente una inmensa satisfacción al ayudar a las personas en Ecuador a alcanzar sus sueños y metas en la vida. A menudo esto implica que las personas que estudian en International House realicen un examen reconocido internacionalmente que les abre puertas para vivir y/o estudiar en el extranjero.
Jimmy Salazar nació y creció en Daule – Ecuador. Actualmente es el Coordinador Académico y de exámenes de International House Guayaquil, cuenta con experiencia en la enseñanza de inglés como idioma extranjero a niños, adolescentes y adultos. También ha sido facilitador de clases de preparación para maestros en Guayaquil. Actualmente, Jimmy es el encargado de la administración de los exámenes de Cambridge English, las certificaciones para maestros y del seguimiento a profesores de IH Guayaquil. Jimmy cuenta con una Maestría en Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros con Mención en la Enseñanza de Inglés, Universidad Casa Grande, además del CELTA de la Universidad de Cambridge.
Ryan has lived in Ecuador since 2019 and has been a teacher at IH Guayaquil for the last couple of years. Since living in Ecuador he has spent time in Guayaquil, Quito and around the Amazonian region of the country. He has enjoyed getting to know the locals as well as the typical food from around the country and hopes to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
Jodie Atwell
Jodie is a British and Barbadian, Trinity certified English teacher. She received her TESOL certification in Spain where she lived and worked for two years. During her time there she also received her Business English and Young Learners trinity certificates. After the start of the pandemic, Jodie returned to Barbados to study at the University of the West Indies where she received her Master’s in International Trade Policy. Jodie is passionate about literature and enjoys reading and writing in her spare time.
Olga Sakidon
Olga has lived and taught in Ecuador since 2018. In addition to a degree in Linguistics and Teaching Methodology, Olga also holds a Cambridge DELTA and MA in English Language Teaching from the University of Southampton (UK).
During her time at IH Guayaquil, Olga taught all age groups, from young learners to adults, and all levels, from Beginners to Advanced, but her area of interest and expertise is teaching higher levels and exam preparation classes. Olga still teaches part-time, but since 2021 she has been actively involved in teacher training as one of the tutors on the CELTA courses delivered by IH Guayaquil.
Olga is also an international speaking examiner for most Cambridge main suit exams and IELTS.
Wouter Redelinghuys
Wouter has been in ESL since 2003 when he took a supposed one-year break to teach English in China. Since then, he has worked for two years or more in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Afghanistan, Seattle and currently on the coast of Ecuador. During this time, he has worked as an English Instructor, Teacher Trainer and Director of Studies. He has worked for large franchises, Universities and smaller well-known schools. He has also been the speaker, including keynote, at several International ESL conferences. He completed a DELTA at IH London (2010) and has an MA in Education.
Eli Parker
Eli is a native English speaker. She loves learning about new cultures, traveling, and meeting new people around the world. She has been an English teacher for a few years, and received her CELTA certification in 2022. She enjoys teaching general English courses to adults, giving private lessons, and helping students create connections between English and their native language.
Greg Mackie
Greg is from the United States but currently lives in Mexico with his wife, Patricia, and two cats, Fred and Amelia. He teaches online classes for IH Guayaquil, including general English and IELTS test preparation classes. He loves exploring language and always brings a little humor to his classes. His other interests include running marathons, listening to classical music and opera, and reading classic novels.
Jevon Bernard
Jevon is a native English teacher who hails from the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Rooted in the multicultural heritage of the Caribbean, Jevon provides a dynamic perspective on English, an amalgamation of historically British and contemporary American styles. He received his CELTA certification in 2021 from IH Guayaquil where he now also serves as an online teacher. Prior to this, he served as an English tutor at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in Bogotá where he developed a passion for teaching. He has also been working with the IELTS Testing Center in Trinidad since 2016. He holds a B.A. in Spanish with International Relations from the University of the West Indies.
Marion Jordis
Originally from Vienna, Austria, Marion lived in the UK for about 20 years where she completed her Bachelor degree in Education Studies and Sociology, a PGCE Upper Primary with Modern Foreign Languages and a CELTA qualification. Marion taught in London as a supply teacher, teaching assistant and ESOL lecturer for many years. Between 2015 and 2016 she worked at a language school in a small town in Brazil, and since 2018 she has been teaching English at International House Guayaquil. In 2020 her work shifted online, which gave her the opportunity to teach business English and German for schools in Chile and Germany in addition to her work at International House. Her experience includes teaching general English at all levels and age groups, exam preparation (Cambridge exams and IELTS), business English and German.
Viviana Alvarez
Viviana has been speaking English since she was five, achieving C1/C2 proficiency level when she graduated from high school. After earning an engineering degree at ESPOL in Ecuador and a Master’s degree in France, and a short work stint surveilling Ecuador’s volcanic activity at the IG-EPN, she followed her passion and went on to volunteer in India for 12+ years, using English as her first language all that time. Shortly after coming back to Ecuador, she got the CELTA Cambridge certification which she says was an amazing, intense, and fulfilling experience. For the next two years she envisions herself successfully practicing what she learned and furthering her knowledge through ongoing self-study and taking further courses, particularly those Cambridge offers e.g. the TKTs.
Our Staff
John Warren
Cambridge English Exams Manager
María Elena Cobeña
Gerente General
Jimmy Salazar
Coordinador de Exámenes
Ryan Mcguire
Coordinador Académico
Vanessa Jímenez
Gerente Administrativa
Teresa Ponce
Coordinadora de Curso
Olga Sakidon
Teacher
Wouter Redelinghuys
Teacher
Greg Mackie
Teacher
Jevon Bernard
Teacher
Marion Jordis
Teacher
